Welcome to the 24th annual “Ten Most Significant Coverage Decisions Of The Year.” 

I can’t believe I’ve been doing this thing for twenty-four years.  Let’s see, I’m 58.  So 24 divided by 58.  That’s 41% of my time on earth.  

Next year will be the big 2-5.  Don’t get me anything for 24.  It’s the opal anniversary and I don’t need anything opal.  Save your money and put it toward a gift for the big silver anniversary coming up.

In any event, I keep doing this – and it’s a heavy-lift, I can assure you -- for one simple reason. I enjoy it.  I certainly wouldn’t if I didn’t.  To those people who tell me that they enjoy it, find it useful, look forward to it – a sincere thank you.  Such nice comments provide very helpful encouragement.

This was the year of the excess policy.  As you’ll see, three of the cases involved significant wins for excess insurers. 

The “Ten Most Significant Coverage Decisions of the Year” is only as good as the selection process.

As I explain every year, the most important consideration, for selecting a case as one of the year’s ten most significant, is its potential ability to influence other courts nationally.  These are coverage decisions (usually, but not always, from state high courts) that (i) involve a frequently occurring claim scenario that has not been the subject of many, or clear-cut, decisions; (ii) alter a previously held view on an issue; (iii) are part of a new trend; (iv) involve a burgeoning or novel issue; (v) provide a novel policy interpretation; or (vi) offer an important lesson for insurers in the claim handling.  Some of these criteria overlap.  Admittedly, there is also an element of “I know one when I see one” in the process.  In addition, cases that meet the selection criteria are usually (but not always) not included when the decision is appealed.  In such situation, the ultimate significance of the case is up in the air. 
 
That being said, the most common reason why many unquestionably important decisions are not selected is because other states do not want for guidance on the issue, or the decision is tied to something unique about the state.  Therefore, a decision that may be hugely important for its own state – indeed, it may even be themost important coverage decision of the year for that state – will be passed over, as one of the year’s ten most significant, because it has little chance of being called upon for guidance by other states at a later time.  In other words, a state with its own case law on an issue is unlikely to turn to the decision of another state for direction. 

To be sure, and needless to say, there is nothing scientific about all this.  There is no Top 10 Selection Committee like the college football playoff.  It’s just yours truly, applying a combination of experience as a coverage lawyer, reading or eyeballing thousands of coverage cases a year and gut sense.  If you think I missed a case, let me know.  And, if you want, I’ll be happy to let you address it in Coverage Opinions.

The “Ten Most Significant Coverage Decisions of the Year” are listed in the order decided.